All posts by csb10.top

Javagal Srinath said he would quit all forms of cricket if his knee injury rules him out of the tour of Australia, which starts in three weeks. “If I don’t go to Australia, I will retire from cricket,” Srinath said on Thursday.The 33-year-old retired from Test cricket after the West Indies tour last year. He did play in the World Cup, where his incisive spells helped India reach the final.Srinath said that he would play in a local game next week to assess his knee. “I am keen to go if my knee is completely healed. But I am not 23 or 24. The healing is slow, but there is improvement,” he was reported as saying on the BBC’s website.India’s tour of Australia, which begins on November 25, will include four Tests and a one-day tri-series also featuring Zimbabwe. The first Test in Brisbane starts on December 4.

England v South Africa, Old Trafford, Thursday, 1330GMT

After the disappointment of the rain at Headingley, it is ironic that the NatWest Series caravan now moves on to Old Trafford for a day/night match between England and South Africa. Manchester is not known for its droughts, and it must be hoped that the weather allows what promises to be a fascinating contest to run its full course.The no-result recorded at Headingley proved frustrating to both England and Zimbabwe, as both of them would have fancied their chances of a win. Zimbabwe had the confidence of beating England first time out, while England were buoyed by their own victory against South Africa.Now England must aim for back-to-back wins against South Africa, who themselves will be smarting from their defeat at The Oval. However, it is difficult to draw a form-line from the initial round of matches. What has become evident is that England’s middle order has shown a certain fragility, while South Africa’s bowling resources are somewhat thin.Both teams will be striving to amend those shortcomings, while building on the progress to which both can point. For South Africa, Jacques Kallis is in fine form, with the bat at least, while Andrew Hall has emerged as an allrounder of true international class. However, there is also a doubt about their youthful captain, Graeme Smith, who injured his left shoulder in the field at Canterbury on Sunday.England can point to Marcus Trescothick’s batting form, now in partnership with Vikram Solanki whose hundred at The Oval will not be forgotten quickly by anyone who saw it, and the continuing development of Jimmy Anderson.Add to that the progress of Chris Read, the return of Darren Gough and the growing authority of Michael Vaughan, and it is clear that the England selectors are making significant strides towards building a competitive one-day outfit.Whether it will be good enough to achieve that second successive win over South Africa remains to be seen. What is certain that England will be hoping to win the toss and bat, to be spared the problems usually associated with batting under lights, to say nothing of having the advantage of bowling in the twilight zone.England (probable) 1 Marcus Trescothick, 2 Vikram Solanki, 3 Michael Vaughan (capt), 4 Andrew Flintoff, 5 Anthony McGrath, 6 Jim Troughton, 7 Chris Read (wk), 8 Kabir Ali, 9 Richard Johnson, 10 Darren Gough, 11 James Anderson.South Africa (probable) 1 Graeme Smith (capt), 2 Herschelle Gibbs, 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Jacques Rudolph, 5 Andrew Hall, 6 Mark Boucher (wk), 7 Martin van Jaarsveld, 8 Shaun Pollock, 9 Nicky Boje, 10 Alan Dawson, 11 Makhaya Ntini.

The last of the round-robin matches in the NatWest Series, between SouthAfrica and Zimbabwe, could well have been one of those dreadful dead-rubberevents when one team has qualified for the final and the other is out of thetournament. It’s often a case of going through the motions to honour thefixture list – but this one is not like that any more.There are two reasons for the sudden change. One was the heavy defeat ofSouth Africa by England at Edgbaston. If a margin of four wickets does notappear to be too wide a margin, the reality was that South Africa were fortunate to get as close as that, helped by two late wickets when the match was as good as over. The other factor that will result in this match being anything but a non-event is that Hampshire’s Rose Bowl is staging international cricket for the first time. Throw in the fact that Zimbabwe always enjoy an opportunity to have a crack at their neighbours, and there is every reason to believe that nobody concerned will be going through the motions.South Africa’s captain Graeme Smith said before the Edgbaston game that he was hoping to inflict some mental scars before the final and the Test series to come. The first over, when he personally took 19 off James Anderson, showed that he meant business. However, any scars seemed to heal pretty quickly as Anderson came back to claim four wickets, and it was South Africa’s confidence that ended the evening more disfigured.Smith might have been hoping to rest some of his key players in Southampton, in advance of a final for which his team has already qualified, but now he will probably need to play them all in the hope that they can regain form and self-belief.Paul Adams will be one of those hoping to get a chance to repair the Edgbaston damage. After the injury to Nicky Boje – a fractured tibia and ankle-ligament damage that will require surgery – Adams is the only specialist spinner available for selection at Lord’s. But his 1 for 44 from six overs against England means there is plenty of room for improvement.Meanwhile, Zimbabwe can go into this match with no fear. They are expectedto lose, but will not want to miss out on the opportunity to leave Englandwith a decent result, to say nothing of being able to further bloody thoseSouth African noses. Zimbabwe’s captain, Heath Streak, has striven manfully to make something of his understrength team throughout this tour, and he is sure to be welcomed back warmly to Hampshire, where he played a few years ago.The Rose Bowl deserves a proper contest as it makes its first appearance onthe international scene. To move away from cosy little Northlands Road,Hampshire had to make a great leap of faith, utilise tremendous imagination,and pour in vast amounts of money and resources. This match represents thefirst repayment on that vision. The venue has made an important improvementto the infrastructure of English cricket, and if a near-capacity crowd caninspire Zimbabwe to inflict another defeat on South Africa prior to the Lord’s final, they could be doing even more for the health of the English game.South Africa (probable) 1 Herschelle Gibbs, 2 Graeme Smith (capt), 3 Jacques Kallis, 4 Jacques Rudolph, 5 Martin van Jaarsveld, 6 Andrew Hall, 7 Mark Boucher (wk), 8 Shaun Pollock, 9 Paul Adams, 10 Dewald Pretorius, 11 Makhaya Ntini.Zimbabwe 1 Dion Ebrahim, 2 Grant Flower, 3 Stuart Matsikenyeri, 4 Tatentda Taibu (wk) 5 Richard Sims, 6 Travis Friend, 7 Heath Streak (capt), 8 Andy Blignaut, 9 Sean Ervine, 10 Raymond Price, 11 Douglas Hondo.

Otago had the man of the hour in Martyn Croy with his share of the national wicket-keeping record, but it was Auckland who took the spoils from the State Championship match which Auckland won with seven wickets to spare this evening.Actually Auckland, needing only 116 in the second innings to win, won with seven wickets, 11 balls and the fourth day to spare – clinching the victory at 7.45pm.Taking the maximum six points from the match Auckland retain their position sharing first place on the top of the Championship table with Wellington.Croy took his starring role when two catches in the first half hour gave him seven for the innings and abruptly ended the Auckland first innings at 316 – Rob Nicol, the second-day hero, unbeaten on 109.Croy had set a new Otago record with his sixth catch, and his seventh had him sharing the national mark with Robin Schofield of Central Districts, Wasim Bari of Pakistan, Bryan Young of Northern Districts and Ian Smith of New Zealand.The Otago second innings finished at 190, mainly due to an heroic 80 in 232 minutes by Chris Gaffaney (Rob Smith was the only other batsman to reach 20), and so Auckland had plenty of time chasing 116 for victory.They went at the task eagerly, sensing the chance of a day’s holiday tomorrow. They lost three wickets for 118, and unfortunately none of these went to Croy who, at better times, might have challenged the national match record of 10 dismissals held by Adam Gilchrist of Australia and Chris Nevin of Wellington.Apart from Gaffaney and some stout work by Smith and his fellow tail-enders, the Otago second innings was disappointing.Batting conditions were still good, the sun shone, there was a cooling breeze and too many of the Otago batsmen wasted the chance of taking their first innings toward 300 and pitting their spinners Smith and Nathan Morland against the Auckland second innings.Instead Otago lost wickets in bunches. Simon Beare and Craig Cumming were out to consecutive balls at 13 to the young Auckland medium-fast bowler Gareth Shaw, who missed a hat-trick.Robbie Lawson looked sound enough until he touch a catch from Shaw to the Auckland ‘keeper with the total on 50. Gaffaney and Andrew Hore seemed to have stiffened the resistance as they worked toward 78, but then Brooke Walker took three wickets in one over at no cost, and Otago was virtually out of the contest.Walker bowled Hore with what appeared, from the sideline perspective, to be a wrong’un which Hore did not read. Craig Pryor kept out one ball, got some bat to the next, but the ball rolled back and dislodged a bail. Croy lifted his bat clear, padded away Walker’s next ball, and umpire Barry Frost ruled Croy lbw.Morland played and missed Walker’s hat-trick ball, but Otago had lost the heart of its innings at 78, when Otago were only three runs in profit. Morland was another Reece Young-Shaw victim at 104/7 and the end was nigh.Not that Gaffaney noticed. He defended sensibly, and picked the right times to play his strong strokes with measured accuracy, and never a hint of hopeful slogging.He seemed within reach of a meritorious century when Nicol had him lbw at 154/8 with the first ball of a new spell. Gaffaney had batted with marvellous determination for 232 minutes and had hit 13 fours from 162 balls.Smith toiled away until Chris Drum knocked out his off stump at 164, and James McMillan and David Sewell worked sensibly until McMillan was lbw to Drum.This last dismissal meant that Otago had offered up four lbw dismissals in each innings, whereas Auckland lost two wickets in each innings to lbw decisions.As the only reasonable reporting position was high at mid-wicket the merit of the umpiring decisions could not be judged. However, it could be said that the bowlers who maintained a very accurate attacking line and were prepared to bend their backs (or the spinners who could get an increasing amount of turn) were likely to get a little movement and sometimes a livelier bounce from the pitch, and these appeared to strengthen the claims for lbw.

The Board of Control for Cricket in Sri Lanka (BCCSL) will hold electionsafter a government decision to end a two-year period of control by interimcommittees.The sports ministry confirmed on Wednesday that the BCCSL Annual General Meeting (AGM) will take place in approximately one month – probably on June 6.Lakshman Kiriella, the then sports minister, disbanded the last electedadministration in March, 2001 on legal grounds, amid rumours off financialmismanagement.A series of interim committees followed, the first headed by VijayaMalalsekera and the last by Hemaka Amarasuriya, who was appointed by thecurrent sports minister Johnston Fernando.Leading contenders for the presidency include Thilanga Sumithipala, who hadserved two previous terms as president, and Arjuna Ranatunga, the formercaptain.Once the sports ministry has issued formal notification to the BCCSLmembership, contenders have two weeks to forward their nominations.Milton Amarasinghe, the director of sports, will conduct and oversee theelection, trying to avoid a repeat of the controversial 1999 AGM -­ anelection marred by physical intimidation.

The Australian Cricket Board will take no action against captain Steve Waugh after a hostile ending to his post match media conference following his team’s exit from the tri series.ACB chief executive James Sutherland said he had spoken to Waugh about the incident after Australia’s loss to South Africa at the WACA, when the skipper swore under his breath as he left the conference and muttered that some journalists were “on thin ice”.His anger surfaced after repeated questions on the possibility of changes to the Australian one-day side following its failure to make the tri series finals for just the third time in 22 years.Waugh, who acknowledged that his own position could come under scrutiny, said that selections were now made only by selectors but he agreed he had some say inthe matter.However, when asked if he would suggest any changes to the team, he said it was decided by selectors.Sutherland said it was a difficult media conference for the weary captain after a long international season.”A couple of ACB representatives were there, I have spoken to them, it would appear it was a pretty difficult press conference at the end of a difficult match and a long summer,” Sutherland said.”He (Waugh) made an off-the-cuff remark to an ACB person on the way out.”I understand the context of that, I have spoken to Steve Waugh and I won’t be taking the matter any further.”It was the second time Waugh’s personal asides at a media conference have caused him problems.Last month Waugh apologised to South African fast bowler Steve Elworthy over a flippant remark about the paceman’s brain – or lack of it.That comment came as Waugh observed Proteas skipper Shaun Pollock telling a post-match news conference a scan on Elworthy, who was struck by a GlennMcGrath bouncer during the match, had found no damage.Waugh was criticised in the South African media for reportedly saying to ACB media manager Brian Murgatroyd: “Yeah, and I bet they didn’t find a brain either.”Waugh said he was disappointed in the way that incident was reported and that he had been misquoted.”It was a private conversation and wasn’t meant to be heard by anyone else, it wasn’t meant to be offensive, it obviously has been seen that way but the words were not the words that I said,” he said at the time.

Positivism was the message England captain Nasser Hussain was throwing out after his side’s record one-day loss to New Zealand at WestpacTrust Stadium in Wellington.Despite the 155-run margin Hussain said he firmly believes he has the players to beat New Zealand.”Otherwise I wouldn’t be here,” he said.But he did acknowledge that the performance yesterday had not been good enough.”Today was a poor performance, there is no excuse for it all the way through. It was not a 90 all out wicket and it is not a 240 wicket, it is somewhere between those two.”Maybe if we kept them down to 180, and fielded a little better, and put in the energy that New Zealand put in we might have batted a bit more sensibly. But all departments were not good enough today,” he said.While the pitch had done a bit all day, New Zealand’s bowlers had put the ball in the right areas more often than the England attack, their fielders took better catches than England. And if things had been done better, New Zealand could have been 30/4.Hussain did not think some marginal umpiring decisions had impacted on the side.”We could have had 15 decisions go for us today and we’d have lost,” he said.

The formula was obvious, after all, as Hussain told the press conference, two games ago the English media had been saying England were a good side.The team did not go from being a good side to a bad one in two games, he said.”One thing that we have done in the last few years is we have picked ourselves up, we will have a chat and try to pick ourselves up.”It is part and parcel of being an England cricketer. You do have days like this and you have to pick yourself up. I firmly we have the ability in that room to beat New Zealand otherwise I wouldn’t be here and we showed that for large parts of the game the other day.”We were a better side the other day, today we weren’t and therefore I have to remind them of that and therefore ask them to be honest with me and ask them why we were all so flat and to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”You have to focus in and do our job and not enough of us did that today,” he said.Hussain also explained the replacement of wicket-keeper James Foster by Marcus Trescothick. It had been to give Foster a break.”James Foster has been tired the last two or three days and he has talked to a couple of coaches about it.”He’s a young lad who’s come out of University where he played 15 games in a year and now he’s playing 50 games in a year so he was feeling it a little bit so we rested him today in the hope he’ll have fresh legs later on in the series, whether it be in the one-dayers or test matches or whatever,” he said.”Owais Shah came in because he’s a good young prospect and we’ll readdress the side when we look at conditions in Napier.”

Alec Stewart has confirmed speculation in the weekend’s newspapers by announcing his retirement at the end of the season. With it unlikely that he will play in Surrey’s final Championship match starting on Wednesday, his last game was the final Test against South Africa, fittingly at The Oval.Yesterday, Surrey announced that financial contraints meant that Stewart would not be offered another contract, and in The News of the World he ended suggestions that he would look to extend his career at another county. “I’m not that sentimental,” he explained. “I said my goodbyes to the Oval crowd during the South Africa Test and that couldn’t have gone better. If Surrey had still been in the hunt for the Championship, it would have been different. I’ve always striven to get to the top, ie England. Once that has gone, why are you playing?”In a press release today Stewart said that it had been a “fantastic privilege” playing for Surrey. “I have been lucky enough to play with some great players and particularly to be a part of the huge success the Club has achieved over the last eight years. I look forward to contributing to Surrey’s continued success both on and off the pitch in years to come.”Keith Medlycott, Surrey’s first-team coach, had earlier confirmed that Stewart – and Ian Ward – had been released because of a need to cut outgoings. “We are part of a bigger industry and that is the business itself and we have to deal with what is put in front of us. We have to abide by certain rules and as much as we’ve tried to bend those and eke out extra money we weren’t able to do that. It’s an unfortunate scenario but players’ worth in recent years has gone up in astronomical amounts but income has not followed suit.”Stewart made his debut for Surrey in 1981 and scored 26,165 runs at an average of 40.06 in 447 first-class matches.Alec Stewart – his career in numbers

New Zealand’s failure to live up to the promise seen in its early rounds of the VB Series has been the biggest disappointment of their loss in the first final in Melbourne last night.New Zealand had its chances but a poor batting effort and the relentlessness of the South African batting ground New Zealand into the dirt, with the prospect that they may have had their last chance this time to achieve a second New Zealand victory in the history of finals of the tri-series.Newspaper comment in New Zealand, Australia and South Africa is included below:The New Zealand Herald: “A day which started reasonably brightly for Stephen Fleming’s side – with all team members reporting fit and well, clear skies and the coin falling in his favour – slowly turned into the match from hell, as the batting line-up short-circuited, leaving him with little hope of restricting the South Africans.”Fleming and Craig McMillan helped to partly rescue their side with a 109-run third wicket partnership.”But New Zealand folded in the second half of the innings and were all out with 2.1 overs unbowled.”McMillan patched together his most meaningful contribution of the series, striking 73 off 99 balls.”Fleming played an equally important hand with 50 off 79 balls.”But as well as the pair batted, they were possibly as much of the problem as the solution.”Their painstaking work averted immediate collapse, but by meandering along at a leisurely four an over, they consumed half the overs at their side’s disposal as they concentrated on establishing themselves and getting the total past 100.”The Sydney Morning Herald: “The Xhosa man from Alice, Makhaya Ntini, and his pace bowling partner, Lance “Zulu” Klusener, cut down New Zealand’s batsmen to pave the way for an overwhelming first final success by South Africa at the MCG last night.”The 24-year-old Ntini claimed 5-31, his finest return in a career of 37 limited-over internationals, while Klusener captured the crucial wickets of Stephen Fleming (50) and Chris Cairns (0) within five deliveries.”Capitalising on the foundations laid by their bowlers, Boeta Dippenaar (79no) and Jacques Kallis (59no) produced a record third-wicket partnership of 139 runs from 183 balls to complete the victory.”Deluge in Sydney permitting, the teams are scheduled to meet in the second final tomorrow.”New Zealand captain Fleming praised Ntini, saying: ‘He’s pretty slippery. He’s doing damage at the top with his variation and bounce. And he’s very accurate.'”Winning captain Shaun Pollock said: ‘We have started to play the way we know we can.'”As they led the South Africans from the MCG at the dinner break, man-of-the-match Ntini and Klusener (2-27) must have wondered at the extraordinary fortunes of a fickle game. The agony of their team’s 3-0 Test match losing series to Australia in December-January seemed an eternity ago.”Ntini was dropped after going wicketless in the Adelaide Test, while Klusener’s performances indicated he would have been omitted from the Sydney Test. He returned home to be with his pregnant wife.”New Zealand’s misfortunes escalated when paceman Dion Nash walked off after his first over, having aggravated an abdominal strain sustained when he fell heavily while batting.”The Australian: “South Africa placed a stranglehold on this summer’s tri-series title with a comfortable eight-wicket win over New Zealand in last night’s opening final at the MCG.”With Sydney’s wet weather threatening the remaining two matches, a one-nil lead could be enough to land the Proteas the $50,000 for the winner.”With no reserve days scheduled, matches cancelled due to rain can’t be replayed, which meant yesterday’s fixture carried even greater significance as it was the only one guaranteed of producing an outcome.”Sunday’s match, if required, has already been changed from a day-night fixture to a day game following a suggestion from the Nine network, which was eagerly agreed to by both teams.”Despite its significance, only 20,671 people bothered to turn up yesterday, which was 5000 less than the conservative figure Australian officials had predicted when they foreshadowed a financial shortfall of about $1 million.”The win was set up by Makhaya Ntini, who fortunately proved a final lacking in atmosphere and devoid of local interest does not have to do without a star.”His career-best one-day return of 5-31 not only won him the plaudits of his team-mates but earned him the adoration of the MCG outer to which he doffed his cap as he retired to the outfield after his 10th over.”It was a justified return for the 24-year-old from the Eastern Cape, who initially won fame as South Africa’s first black African Test player.”The Daily Telegraph: ” Australia, you’ve got a lot to answer for. Yesterday’s day-night ‘mockbuster’ final between South Africa and New Zealand was even duller than the most bitter Aussie fan could have predicted. Just 20,671 turned up at a strangely quiet MCG to watch the South Africans cruise to victory with ridiculous ease.”The Proteas, chasing 191 on a dream batting deck, took a 1-0 lead in the one-day finals series with 29 balls to spare.”It’s a pity the bonus point system didn’t extend to the finals, giving South Africa incentive to win inside 40 overs. We all would have been put out of our misery a bit earlier.”Full credit to South Africa for making it 16 wins from its past 17 against the Kiwis, but this will not be one for their greatest hits video collection.”Rapidly improving South African quick Makhaya Ntini produced the best one-day performance of his career to set up the win. It was shame the mood was so flat as he wreaked havoc.”Ntini took 5-31 off his 10 overs, striking twice early and then returning with a savage knockout blow.”The Mercury (Durban): “It is always possible to imagine a reversal in Sydney – scene of South Africa’s most humiliating one-day defeat this summer at the hands of the Aussies – but the Kiwis will have to do an awful lot better to make it happen.”On Wednesday, everything went right for the Proteas, even those little bits of luck that are often necessary for victory in limited-overs cricket.”Nevertheless, it is extraordinary that the recent record between two such evenly matched teams is so lopsided in favour of South Africa.”The Proteas’ sixth consecutive victory at the MCG rewrote that record to read 17 matches, one defeat, 15 wins and a washout (which would have been an SA win).”The Black Caps seem to have been far more aggressive against the Australians, and their 3-1 record in this series against the world champions bears testimony to that. But against South Africa they have been conservative, as if fearful of risking anything.”It was only when their one genuine match-breaker, Chris Cairns, took control in Brisbane, that the New Zealanders eventually broke their log-jam of defeats. But it took one of the best one-day centuries in years – from a starting point of 98-5 – to get them through to an unlikely win.”

Sri Lankan cricket captain Sanath Jayasuriya has requested help from SriLankan cricket fans for people in Hambantota who are suffering from a severedrought."I am requesting the people all over the world to come forward to help theresidents of Hambanthota who are faced with a severe drought. This is anational cause and the people need help badly," said the Sri Lankan captain,as his side was preparing to take on Bangladesh in the inaugural Test Matchbetween the two countries.Due to the present drought, drinking water in the area is scarce and the SriLankan cricket team has already donated mineral water bottles to theresidents of the area: "We just started with the cricket board and havealready collected 10,000 liters of water. I am requesting the public forsimilar donations."He added: "If the people would like to come up with some support they cancontact Kushil Gunasekara (Coordinating Secretary) at the Cricket Board andextend their cooperation."The national side will visit the area after the Bangladesh Test: "We will begoing to Hambantota on Sept 12 and can take any donations down with us."Donations of water and food can be made at the Board of Control for Cricketin Sri Lanka (BCCSL) headquarters at 35, Maitland Place, Colombo 7, SriLanka.